court of lies | robert's rebellion

the labour

Her mother, on the other hand, was her only child and Maester deemed even before she was born that Jenica Westerling most likely would not be able to give birth again. She had narrow hips that made everything harder in the labour and were thinner than her peers. The pregnancy was hard and labour bloody, it took days for her to be born. So she chose to spoil the child she had instead of trying for another.

She taught her to sing and to play music, to appreciate art. The fashion and the meaning behind the colours and jewels. She was so very young when she lost her mother thought, and it probably was the reason that she was not an art person now. Songs saddened her, she didn't like to dance, bright colours made her nauseous, and she had no passion for drawing. The only thing that she kept doing, that her mother had taught her, was care of the meanings of the colours and jewellery. That, she believed in, that she felt closer to her mother.

Jenica was not the perfect mother -no one was the perfect mother. But she loved her child. And she loved Gerard's other children -but she never loved Gerard. She was six when the tragedy happened and her father's infamous rage scattered around her lifeline but even at that age, she knew that her parents didn't love each other. Gerard had mistresses and even though it wasn't a direct indication of the lack of love, the constant arguments that ended with sex were. Of course, it took years, and a similar experience, for her to understand that whatever they had was just toxic.

And her mother paid greatly for it because their passion ended sooner than later.

And Leyton, horrified, yet quiet, by the things their father did, kept spoiling her when he too died. She did everything she wanted to do, she read whatever she wanted to, she visited wherever she wanted to, and she woke up and ate and slept whenever she wanted to. The most expensive jewels were gifted to her, the most glorified fabrics were hers, and she got everything she wanted even before she said she wanted them.

And the price was the lack of her family.

Leyton didn't know what to do with her, Rhea didn't want her so off she was to Highgarden, under the care of Luthor and Olenna Tyrell. Sure, Mace was like a brother to her now and both Mina and Janna -Mina more, were her closest friends but after getting traumatized by everything, she didn't need richness and gifts, she needed a family.

And Leyton let her down in the time of need.

He wrote to her every two days, for years, even though she didn't answer most of them. Visited her at any time he could, sent her teachers and masters and Maesters and modistes and foreign merchants and maids and everything he thought she needed yet none of them was enough. When she returned back to Oldtown, she was a stranger to her own family and the castle that was her home once.

Not anymore.

She never forgave Leyton for taking her family away from her but also she loved Leyton more than anything else in this world. He was her brother, the one who protected her during the thunderstorms at night and when she had nightmares after her mother's death when things were too loud between her parents. And Leyton was always there, no matter what when she needed him truly. Even when he was angry at her, even when he was disappointed in her. Any time she said that she needed him and any time she didn't even have the power to tell him that she needed him, her older brother was there to cuddle her.

But she wanted to make him feel pain the way she did. She loved disappointing him, she loved causing trouble for him, and she loved quarrelling with him. Gods, she would swear that the sky was red instead of blue just to piss him off. And sometimes, when her past managed to catch up with her when she was overwhelmed by her own emotions and felt threatened by her own memories, she just chose to take it all out on Leyton.

Alerie was the perfect lady, the daughter that every lord would dream of. She was obedient -though opinionated, delightful to be around, loved flowers and had an interest in gardening, highly educated and intelligent, obeyed the social norms and made Leyton proud, so proud. She was now married to the most important man in the Reach and gave the heir and the spare that was needed and managed to find her own happiness in her beloved husband and sons.